The next British Seagull restoration

That one is stripped already and will be on my bench on Monday, the customer is based in England, UK, his yacht is here in Hout Bay.

Parts are in the post from our British Seagull suppliers in Kent, South East England.

Progress pictures as I proceed.

The picture posted now is of a much larger 102  series Seagull outboard of about 5hp? next to it is a 2hp motor but not the one I will assemble next week.

We have a 102 series motor for sale, also the 2hp unit.

British Seagull, serviced, just add fuel and marine grade two stroke oil

The day went well, this 1961 Seagull engine has now had a decent service and up grade.

Those hex headed nuts that were removable I fitted re chromed ones for my stocks. They are a special hex size and also the thread.

Note neither imperial or metric spanners will fit the Seagull motor.

Click on any i.mage to enlarge it.

The original fuel tank is in need of a total rebuild, at least one end will have to be cut off and hammered out then refitted.

I have used a tank of a spare motor for now.

This motor is not for sale, I do have various other that may suit you?

The motor is now on the bench and the gear box oil is draining out, I will next half fill ( do it with the unit standing up ) again with the Castrol 140 grade gear box oil we stock.

Next there is the question of a boat to fit this on and try it out again.

How hard can that be?

Roy

British Seagull, this one is for me

The Seagull outboard that was gifted to me some years back and  is now having a small restoration.

It is a Century 100 model and uses a 10:1 fuel mix, a 25:1 mix may be possible?

I have been informed by the company that has taken over Villiers, that it is possible to alter the fuel mix from 10:1 without changing the No 3 Needle. They suggest it is possible to reduce the mix as far as 20:1, with a little trial and error. The method is simple. The securing screw for the needle may be lowered up to 3 turns, no more, from level with the top of the slide. It is possible that this will not work on all motors and indeed the best you may achieve is 16:1, but even that is better than 10:1! I can imagine it will take a little while to find a 'happy' mix for engines, but at least there is an alternative

This is a circa 1961/62 made motor, rated to  4hp it will push along a fair sized boat, it has a four propellor.

There is nothing mechanically wrong with the motor, it just needs bit of bling to make it look nicer.

There is an issue with the brass petrol  tank, the one side is badly creased and the end needs cutting right off and reworking, this will not be done  just now.

The spare tank we have has the petrol tap outlet on the wrong side, so unless a longer supply to the carb is used is of no use.

For now the main change was to remove the thinner down tube and replace it with one with nicer chrome plate on. The chrome band clamp to the top of the large down tube  has also been replaced.
We also re chromed the large dome nut on the top of the flywheel, plus other nuts and bolts were required.

The motor looks good for its fifty six years !

The points are set to 0.020" or 0.50mm, the same with the spark plug. Its worth having both correct as this is in effect the timing of the motor.

The Villiers coil can be seen opposite the points, the coil is brown.

Next is to strip and clean the carb and repaint it, check the points, change the gear box oil for some Castrol 140 grade and start the motor.

Have you ever wondered what parts are inside a British Seagull Villiers carburetor?
Tested with a spark plug and a pull on the starter rope and we see a big fat spark!

I wonder does my friend want his motor back?

Retro 29 leveling

Hi Roy,

Got most bulkheads cut and assembled and four set up on the stocks. Would love to pick your brain about the levelling procedure if you’ve got some time. Latest pic attached...

Cheers,

My reply is below.

Mike

http://ckdboats.blogspot.co.za/2011/09/water-level.html

Mike could not open the link and asked me as below:

I’ve actually just (yesterday) got a laser level which is brilliant. So much easier than the water level. But I must say I’m struggling with the adjustment of bulkheads a bit. Level and plumb is fine but ensuring all bulkheads are parallel / perpendicular to centreline is a bit trickier. I’m thinking of working out what the distance along the stingers between bulkhead notches should be using trigonometry, then checking that way. Am I over complicating things?

I then replied as follows:

Have you marked the center line and the water line on each bulkhead, both sides is best?

When you have the center line drawn you set up an over head nylon center  line with a dropper from that, the dropper then shows you where the center is.

Leave that overhead line there for reference, also mark the water line on the building walls, you can then get back to the center or water line at any later date.